Ottawa – Page 14 – a sibilant intake of breath

2009 Ottawa Fringe Festival recommendations

A note to fellow Ottawa residents: this year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival will be running between June 18th and 28th. Last year’s was a lot of fun.

Some shows that have been recommended to me include:

Countries Shaped Like Stars and Inclement Weather by Mi Casa
On Second Thought, a one-man comedy from Toronto.
Jonno Katz’s The Accident
Lana Schwartz’s Grandpa Sol & Grandma Roise
Tricklock’s Catgut Strung Violin

At a minimum, I will post a quick comment on any shows I see.

[Update: 27 June 2009] I saw Catgut Strung Violin tonight and was most impressed. It was a three-man show on the ‘innocent young man gets sent to war’ theme. It mixed the sober moments into a great deal of intricate, acrobatic slapstick comedy. The sheer number of props and bits of timing to remember must have demanded quite a rehearsal schedule. The end result was poignant and deeply entertaining, in alternating fashion.

There is one more show, tomorrow at 3:00pm.

[Update: 28 Jun 2009] I saw We Never Clothed this afternoon, and found it enjoyable. I liked the musical numbers and the interaction of the actresses. The artistic intent behind the costumes and nudity wasn’t entirely clear to me.

Bixi bikes in Ottawa

The Ottawa area now has four bicycle rental kiosks – two in Gatineau, and two on the Ottawa side. The company that provides them is called Bixi and they are priced to encourage brief usage: free for 30 minutes, $1.50 for the next thirty, $3.00 for the next thirty, and then $6.00 for each half hour after that. To take one out, you swipe your credit card. It charges the appropriate amount when returned to another station. Montreal has a system with the same bikes: 3,000 of them at 300 locations. The Montreal system apparently cost $15 million, and is expected to pay itself off with user fees.

The stations are outside the Portage Complex and near the Civilization Museum in Gatineau, as well as beside the ByWard Market on Sussex near York and on the other side of the Canal at Elgin and Queen.

I want to try doing a rally between all four, making each trip in less than half an hour, so as to make it all free. Going from Portage to the Civilization Museum would be a breeze. From there to the ByWard stop would also be pretty easy, across the Alexandra Bridge. The trip between the Ottawa stations would be short, but going from the Elgin station back to Portage would be the trickiest part to achieve in half an hour, though still very possible.

The system should be very useful for both visitors and residents. I hope people treat it with respect.

Gyms in Ottawa

Do any readers have experience with gyms in Ottawa? I am thinking about joining one as a complement to cycling – especially for the winter months, when the roads are all serious ice hazards. Benefits would include being close to LeBreton Flats, being open at unusual hours, being inexpensive, and offering a discount to government workers.

Any advice or suggestions?

Interesting Ottawa author

Those with an interest in reading some things with an Ottawa connection should have a look at local author and performer Sylvie Hill’s website. It includes things like more than eighty of her weekly ‘Shotgun’ columns for Ottawa XPress, articles on art, book reviews, a thesis on sexual frustration in Joyce’s Ulysses, editorials, Ottawa news (not frequently updated), and more.

Energy efficiency and Ottawa’s Dominion Observatory

Wandering around the experimental farm, I ran across one of my new favourite buildings in Ottawa. Natural Resources Canada has an Office of Energy Efficiency housed in an old observatory that would look at home in Oxford, Myst, or a neo-Victorian steampunk fantasy. It has great brickwork, an attractive green copper dome, interesting detailing, and a nice setting uphill from Dow’s Lake. The building is called the Dominion Observatory, and served in that capacity from 1905 to 1974, with a 15″ refracting telescope installed in the main dome.

I will need to find some pretense for getting invited in. I will also need to go back at a time when the lighting is more favourable, and when I have a tripod with me.

Photographing birds in Ontario and Quebec

I enjoy photographing birds, and been having increasing luck doing so with my new 70-200mm lens. I think it might be a good project to collect images of birds that congregate around Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal, use them as photos of the day, and identify their species.

It can be a project a bit like collecting the Oxford colleges, though it is obviously much more open-ended.

A few I have shot with the new lens:

Species unknown – near the Rideau Canal locks
Rock Pigeons (Columba livia) – on Somerset
Species unknown – Kensington Market area, Toronto
Species unknown, possibly a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) – Victoria University, Toronto

Can anyone put a name to the unknowns above? I will try to come up with some new bird photos during the next week or so.

P.S. Has anyone tried the Canon 1.4X or 2.0X teleconverters? Does either work with the f/4 70-200mm zoom (I remember the box saying the lens is compatible with them). Do the focusing and metering systems still work properly, despite the lost 1-2 f-stops?

Avian puffballs

Ottawans should consider going for a stroll or bike ride along the southern side of the Ottawa River in the next few days. It is populated with large numbers of adorable, fuzzy, yellow goslings.

I saw them in four or five clusters, between LeBreton Flats and Andrew Haydon Park. I will need to go back with a better camera.

Sci-fi book sale Sunday

Ottawa geeks take note: this Sunday, there is a science fiction book sale taking place just across from the Plant Recreation Centre (near Somerset and Preston). It runs from 11:00am to 7:00pm and will apparently feature a large number of books, a wide variety of authors, and refreshments.

More good service from MEC

Once again, I have been reminded of why it makes sense to buy gear from MEC. On Friday, I was cycling along the Ottawa River pathway when I spotted a small beaver lodge in a little wooded area. I stopped, got out my camera (with 70-200mm lens) and approached the lodge, holding my handlebars with one hand.

I stuck around for a few minutes, trying to spot a beaver and snapping photos of birds while I waited. Eventually, I gave up and returned to the path. When I got there, I saw that the cable for my bike computer (which runs down to the sensor) got sheared off by an errant branch.

I went to MEC and, without a question or the need for a receipt, they gave my a replacement sensor, cable, and dock (they are one unit). They even offered to refill my water bottle for me.

Killing watts in Ottawa

For a while, I have been thinking about buying a Kill-a-Watt electrical meter, in order to test how much is used by various household appliances and electronics. The problem is, it doesn’t make hugely much sense to spend $30 to $50 on a device that you only really need to use once. As such, I was happy to discover that the Ottawa Public Library system actually has 142 of them available to be borrowed for free. There seem to be at least a few at every branch.

I plan to pick one up sometime this week and test the power usage of my computer, stereo, microwave, etc. I don’t think it will work with my washer or dryer, unfortunately.

[Update: 6 May 2009] I picked up a library Kill-a-Watt tonight, one week loan, no fuss, no deposit. I will post data when I have collected it.